RTI Bill – the Rhetoric Must Yield Action

Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General, once said “information is liberating.” If this is so then he who has no information or he from whom information is withheld is in bondage.

The pressure being mounted on the government to pass the Right to Information Bill into law can therefore be construed as a liberation struggle. The seeming reluctance of successive governments to pass the bill obviously arises out of some edginess about the “liberating” effect such a law is likely to have on the citizenry; the awakening effect it is likely to generate among Ghanaians who have long been denied access to the details of public information most of which affect them directly.

The RTI Bill is arguably, the longest pending bill in the political annals of Ghana. It has seen eight years of NPP rule, and the second year of NDC. We have heard enough of political rhetoric over the period, with very little progress in going through the motions to get it passed. Many times, it’s been difficult to follow its trail. The gazetting of the Bill days ago can therefore be described as an important milestone in the push for a RTI law in Ghana.

Public Agenda recognizes the important role of such a law in the country’s fight against corruption, in the protection of human rights, and for better management of the country’s natural resource revenues, and therefore adds its voice to those of the civil society organizations like the Right to Information Coalition, Publish What You Pay-Ghana, Ghana Integrity Initiative, CDD-Ghana, Media Foundation for West Africa, the Ghana Trades Union Congress and the many other groups out there in calling on government to, as a matter of urgency, expedite action on the passage of the law. As the RTI Coalition noted, “The effective realization of the right to information depends largely on the political will and capacity to enforce this law without prejudice”.

Badly crafted and drafted laws can be as bad as not having them at all. Public Agenda therefore wishes to re-echo the coalition’s request that government “…pays critical attention to the text of the Bill to ensure that it conforms to international best practice and enhances accountability and transparency.”

It is indeed heartwarming to hear the outgoing Majority Leader, Hon. Alban Sumani Bagbin, assure Ghanaians that the bill, once it is tabled before parliament, would be given priority attention.

Public Agenda hopes that the Member of Parliament meant his words and that other members of the law making body would show equal commitment and make good their mandate of passing good laws that go to improve the living conditions of the broader masses of Ghanaians.

|Public Agenda